FRACTURES. 449 
tibia. As a distinct lesion it is rare. External violence on the supero-— 
external’ part of the leg may give rise to it; ordinarily there is no dis- 
placement ; with a simple primitive bandage, consolidation takes place 
rapidly. ; 
X.— Tarsus. 
Fractures of the os calcis are rare ; they are caused by external violence 
or muscular contractions. Jumps, slips, falls are the ordinary causes. 
In general, their recovery is attempted only in small animals. In the 
large species the treatment demands often more than three months 
(Haase). However, recovery has been obtained in cattle, in a few weeks, 
by an immovable bandage of plaster or pitch and resine (Brauer, Detroye). 
The patient of Detroye—a fifteen months bull—in trying to cover a cow, 
taised himself on his hind legs: a peculiar noise was heard, like “ that of a 
dry branch of wood breaking ;”’ the animal falling suddenly, the os calcis 
was found fractured obliquely in the middle of its height. A strip of 
iron, gutter-like, adapted to the front part of the leg and extending 
from the middle of the leg to that of the cannon, was held in place 
with four straps, two above and two below the hock. Well padded in- 
side, this bandage kept the hock extended and insured the coaptation 
of the bony fragments, thanks to the relaxation of the tendo-Achillis. 
It was removed after three weeks. At first the animal stood hesitatingly, 
but by degrees it improved and the lameness disappeared, notwithstand- 
ing a permanent deformity of the hock due to the callus. The result is 
not, however, always as satisfactory. A horse and a calf treated by the 
same author had to be destroyed.* 
Fractures of the astragalus, still rarer than the’ preceding, is ordinarily 
the result of a sudden rotation of the hind leg on its axis, the foot rest- 
ing on the ground and not obeying the motion started by the superior 
muscles; the tibia pivots on the astragalus, the median projection of the 
articular surface of the tibia breaks off the tarsal pulley. Moller has 
seen the lesion in a horse making a sudden volt. Furlanetto claims to 
have seen it in a cow that had fallen in a hole; he applied an immovable 
bandage reénforced by two wooden splints extending from the middle of 
the tibia to the fetlock; it was removed after thirty-five days. The 
animal remained lame for a year; there was a callus as big as the two 
fists. 
In general with large animals, and from an economical point of view, 
1 Os calcis-—A case of open fracture of the os calcis without displacement was 
recorded by Harrison in which the treatment was simply keeping the horse in slings 
and local dressing to the wounds. The animal recovered.—Am, Vet. Rev., vol. 5» 
page 68. 
